What is the difference between a bunch of microsites and a link network?

[jshiraz]

Hello SEO community.  I have started an online marketing company that focuses on a specific niche and have been researching how micro sites can be beneficial for SEO.  For example the "Nifty" presentation mentioned how micro sites are going to be key for local seo.

However I have also heard that link networks are increasingly bad and are penalized by the Panda updated.

While we are writing good, original content for our clients, I like the microsites because:

1. URL - we can choose urls for the main keywords
2. Content Focus - we can focus on specific content
3. Ranking - these sites seem to rank pretty well
4. Citations - we are able to give citations for our clients from these sites

But am I worried, am I creating a link network?  Even thought I am putting out useful, good content, is this more hurting me than helping me?  Should I give up on this strategy or continue?  Help!

[AlanBleiweiss]

I'd add the critical factor is "will this micro site stand on its own?" Meaning - is there enough unique content, value and trust for this site that it deserves to rank for its own phrases?

If the micro sites share most or all keywords or content as the main site, or if the quality of the micro site is poor, or if it is only filler content purely for liinking, there really is no difference between micro sites and a link network.

So if you want to go the route Charles describes (and I too have used with great success many times for many clients), be willing to achieve those goals.  If you think you can "get away" with artificially faking it, you may get away with it for a while.  However even if you do, all it takes is one manual review or an algorithm update to wipe out all of that work, and even possibly flag your site in a way that would require four times as much effort to recover.